The research area of photonics deals with all kinds of optical systems used for the generation
manipulation detection etc. of signals of light. To be able to compete with modern-day
electronics these systems need to be fabricated from cheap materials on a chip scale using
scalable processes.This work introduces a novel all-polymeric and chip-scale platform for such
photonic devices. The optical functionality of these devices is based on whispering gallery
modes. Additionally a tunability of at least one optical key characteristic of these systems
is aimed for. To achieve this objective a flexible elastomer that responds to various external
stimuli (like heat or illumination) has been incorporated into the all-polymeric building
blocks. Thus certain optical characteristics of these devices can be reversibly controlled via
a change of their geometrical properties.The present work deals with the design fabrication
and characterization of these tunable and all-polymeric photonic systems. At first the
fundamental concept of whispering gallery modes as well as their investigation using
fiber-transmission spectroscopy are recapitulated. Afterwards several novel and scalable
fabrication processes of all-polymeric tunable photonic systems are introduced. Finally two
exemplary devices are presented and the tunability of their optical key features is
demonstrated in detail.
